AUTHOR ARCHIVES

Tom Shoop

Tom Shoop is vice president and editor in chief at Government Executive Media Group, where he oversees both print and online editorial operations. He started as associate editor of Government Executive magazine in 1989; launched the company’s flagship website, GovExec.com, in 1996; and was named editor in chief in 2007.

December 6, 2004
The debate over the use of private debt collection agencies to go after tax deadbeats tends to center on whether it's appropriate to give bill collectors access to tax records. But the Post's story this weekend on the subject notes (albeit several paragraphs in) that this obscures a simple fact:...

December 6, 2004
The House voted Monday afternoon to allow federal employees to purchase supplemental dental and vision care insurance through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program. The House passed the legislation (S. 2657) unanimously on a voice vote. The Senate has already approved the measure, so now it goes to President Bush....

December 4, 2004
Did you catch the chilling part in the Post piece on the appointment of former NYC police commissioner Bernard Kerik to replace Tom Ridge at Homeland Security? "A high-ranking business executive who is familiar with Kerik's tenure as police commissioner and as head trainer of Iraqi police recruits expressed shock...

December 4, 2004
Nice work by Tommy Thompson Friday, jumping ship and saying, "for the life of me, I cannot understand why the terrorists have not attacked our food supply because it is so easy to do." Oh, and he added that a flu pandemic was right around the corner, too. Nothing like...

December 3, 2004
I'm back from unseasonably and unreasonably chilly Palo Alto, Calif., where I learned some things about Web publishing that I hope will ultimately improve your overall experience of GovExec.com. (If they don't, I'll have some explaining to do to my bosses about why I spent the company's money traveling 3,000...

December 1, 2004
All together now: Welcome back, big government! Times are indeed strange when you can make the case that the defeat of a liberal Massachusetts Democrat by a conservative Texas Republican in a presidential election will result in a continuing rise in the size, scope and power of the federal government....

November 29, 2004
It's becoming clearer just how the Bush administration and Republicans on Capitol Hill intend to pay the hundreds of billions (maybe even trillions) of dollars it would cost to partially privatize the Social Security system. (Such a move entails short-term costs, because some of the money that currently goes into...

November 26, 2004
Your loyal FedLogger is headed West, to a workshop on Web publishing at Stanford next week. I'll impart some bits of wisdom from the West Coast if I can. If not, see you when I get back.

November 26, 2004
Fascinating piece in the Post today about a super-secret Navy project right in the heart of the National Mall, near the Jefferson Memorial. They call it a "utility assessment and upgrade," but it's pretty clear there's something more going on. Best part is the I-could-tell-you-but-then-I'd-have-to-kill-you comments from, of all people,...

November 24, 2004
National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley's got a point about all the hubbub over the embarassing provision in the omnibus spending bill that would have allowed appropriations committees to poke through individual tax returns. Is that really worse, Kelley wonders, than "handing over the tax returns of 2.6 million...